Has anyone completed improved anvil without an auramaster Options

[Patrick_hindman]

This is just an opinionated post on why i love the auramaster
From my experience so far the auramaster seems to me an essential asset to any party going through improved anvil, his improved caster speed makes him a lifesaver in any battle situation and the extra spells he gets makes him an excellent damage dealer and great defender. Right now with cernd's upgraded cload, ring of protection and helm of defense he basically saves every time combined with his defense spells make him a great tank against mages and his faster casting time makes heal a incredibly useful spell in battle (saved my fighters so many times from those damn skeleton lords).

This in my opinion though makes all the other druid classes underated... because really having low health, low strength(sif he needs any) and the ability of not wearing armour, natural resistance(he has all the resistance spells anyway) and immunity poison and shapeshift(which is useless anyway) is a small price to pay for the bonuses you get in return.

So i would like to know other opinions on this.... is the auramaster too weak(i doubt it), overpowered, or do the druid classes need a makeover to match it.

[LZJ]

With regards to your topic title: yes, I have.

Auramasters have rather great advantages when it comes to spellcasting. However, one major benefit clerics have over druids is the Greater Restoration spell... the casting time for this is shorter than what even Auramasters can manage with Heal, and of course, it affects all party members and isn't affected by Spell Turning.

For your comparison of the Auramaster with other Druid classes, I think that some were weaker in the vanilla game anyway. In addition, the Auramaster cannot dual class, so if I were to play a non-Auramaster Druid, I would dual a fighter to a druid or use a multi-class one for greater melee advantages (the usage of the IA Druid items are not limited to single-class Druids).

Btw, some ppl also like the Bard (Haer'Dalis) with Eternal Melody... high character levels (for Remove Magic), permanent Improved Alacrity and reduced spell casting time of 2. Too bad it's spell progression's going to be nerfed in IA v6.